The Painting Lesson
by abbymickey24
Summary: A forgotten phone leads to a rewarding painting lesson. Bella/Garrett.


**Disclaimer: Guess what? I still don't own it.**

**This is for my ficwifey, who has a soft spot for Garrett and makes me smile all the time. I love ya apk1980 and I hope I did Garrett justice for you. :)**

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I groaned as I climbed into my car. It had been a busy day, helping customers and dealing with their problems. I wanted to just go home and fall on top of my bed to sleep the rest of the evening and night away.

As I slipped my key into the ignition, my cell started ringing. I grabbed it from the seat and checked the caller id, seeing an unfamiliar number flashing back at me.

I flipped my phone open, wondering who in the hell was on the other end.

"Hello."

_"Hey Bells. Where are you?"_

"I'm in the parking lot at work fixing to head home. Where are you?"

_"I'm at work. Can you do me a huge, huge favor?"_

"What?"

_"I left my cell phone in my last class. Can you run and get it for me?"_

"Oh Ang. I'm exhausted."

_"I know and I'm sorry. I'd go get it, but I have to work until 11 tonight and no one will be in the building by then."_

"It's almost 7. Can you not just go tomorrow?" I asked.

_"I wish I could, but with the holiday weekend the building is being locked up. My professor is going out of town. I can't wait until Tuesday to get my phone. Please."_

I huffed out a breath, but asked, "What if he's not there?"

_"My professor won't be, but he said one of his grad students would be there until 8:30 or 9 finishing a painting up."_

"Fine, but if he's not there I'm killing you slowly and you owe me."

_"Thank you, thank you, thank you. I will make you my margarita's tomorrow night and do all the laundry this week."_

"That's a start." I said, grinning and knowing that would be all I would make her do. I did love her after all.

"Okay where is your phone exactly?" I asked starting my car and pulling out of my space.

_"It's in the art building, room 210. Other than that you might have to look around. I was all over that room today." _

"Alright I'll put it on the counter at home and I'll see you in the morning.

_"Thanks again Bells. Love you and be careful."_

"Love you too Ang."

I flipped my phone closed after she hung up and threw it into the passenger seat. Only for Angela would I do this when I was so tired. She'd been my best friend since high school and the only one I could count on sometimes.

With the weekend traffic it took me twenty minutes to get across town to the University of Washington where we were both seniors. I quickly found the art building and pulled into the empty lot. Slipping my keys and phone into my pockets I made my way to the front of the building.

I walked up the steps and breathed a sigh of relief when the door opened. At least it had not been a wasted trip.

I stepped into the darkened hallway and moved toward the soft music and light at the end. Just as I was a few steps from the opened door my feet tangled together and I went down, the loud shriek and shit I let out echoing off the walls. As I hit the floor I heard a clatter and a few choice words from inside the room as well.

I lay where I was afraid to move and then I heard a deep voice say, "You scared the hell out of me."

"Sorry." I mumbled.

"It's fine, but are you okay?"

"I think so," I groaned out, rolling over.

I heard his breathing hitch and I popped my eyes open, making my own breath catch.

Holy fuck he was hot. Oh Angela I love you so. This guy had to be yummiest man I'd ever seen. He was squatted over me, his broad shoulders standing out in a paint splattered t-shirt. His eyes were so light, a mix of blue and green, that they showed even in the dimness of the hall. He had a strong jaw, covered in five-o'clock shadow growth. His head was bald with the same shadow of hair as his face. God it worked well on him. His lips were a perfect shape as was his nose.

_God I want to lick him. _

I shook my head at that thought and started to sit up. His hand shot out to help me and I gratefully took it, gripping it tightly.

He put his other hand on my upper arm and helped me to stand. As he stood to his full height I noticed he was probably only seven or eight inches taller than me.

_You wouldn't have to strain to kiss him. _My inner voice said, giving me a small nod in his direction.

I mentally scoffed at myself. Like he'd be receptive to that. More than likely I'd end up in jail.

I finally remembered why I was there when he asked, "So what brings you here ...?"

"Bella." I supplied when he paused.

"Alright Bella, I'm Garrett." I smiled at his name. "What can I do for you?"

_Anything you want, multiple times. _I thought, but out loud where I still had some restraint I said, "My friend lost her cell phone somewhere in class today and she asked me to come find it._"_

"And your friend would be?"

"Angela Webber."

He smiled and nodded, "Professor Wallace has talked about her. He said she was very talented."

"She is." I agreed biting my lip and looking around. "I guess I'll start looking."

I started to walk to one corner before a thought popped into my head. "Oh wait..." I said and quickly spun around, smacking into his hard, thick chest...shit focus Bella. I shook my head to clear it and said, "Sorry, I just realized I could call it and make it easier to find."

He chuckled and said, "Actually that probably won't work. Professor Wallace makes everyone turn their phones off in class."

"Oh well that sucks."

"I'll help you out though. I'll start over there." He said motioning to the other corner.

I nodded and moved away from him, going to the far corner and searching around the tables and things there.

After a few minutes of silent searching he spoke. "Are you an art major too Bella?"

"No I'm a journalism major. I have zero talent when it comes to anything art related."

"Some would consider writing an art form, poetry, songs, and things like that."

"True, but that wasn't what you were talking about. In the visual arts area mine looks like a kindergartener did it."

He laughed and said, "It can't be that bad."

"It can trust me. I do the whole stick figure, square house with a triangle roof, and sun with little lines coming out of it. It drives Angela crazy."

I looked over as he smiled. "Have you known her long?"

"Since sophomore year of high school. She was assigned to be my guide when I moved there halfway through the year."

"And where is there?"

"Forks, Washington. It's about four hours north of here."

He nodded. "I've heard of it, but never been. It's supposed to be a pretty small town."

"It is, but it became my home thanks to Ang."

"Where did you move from?"

"Phoenix."

He raised an eyebrow in question. I knew what he was silently asking. It's what everyone asked, why go from there to Forks. "I was born in Forks, but my parents divorced when I was about 7 months old. My mom moved us away, not liking the rain. She remarried at the end of my freshman year. Her husband is a minor league ball player and traveled a lot, but she had to stay with me and I knew she missed him while he was gone. When the next season started I moved in with my dad."

"Do you miss the sun?"

"I did at first, but then I met Angela and she kept me from missing it. She's why I stayed and came here for college. I'll take Ang over the sun any day." I moved over to a new area and went back to looking, asking, "What about you? Are you from Seattle?"

"No, I grew up in San Diego and then moved to L. A. in high school." I raised my own eyebrow in question and earned another smile with his answer

. "Art scholarship."

"Do you want to go back once you've finished school?"

"I don't know. L.A. has so many artists already and I'd be just another drop in the bucket."

"What about your family? I'm sure they'd want you back."

"I'm sure they do. My mom and sister both call often enough for me though. You know the whole are you eating enough, getting enough sleep, seeing anyone kind of thing."

"Are you?" I asked before I could stop myself. I clapped a hand over my mouth and turned wide eyes toward him. "Sorry, how old is your sister?" I asked trying to deflect my other question.

He gave me an amused look and answered, "Yes, yes, no, and 31."

I nodded and turned away, grinning inwardly. He didn't have a girlfriend_. _

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Eating enough, sleeping enough, boyfriend, siblings?"

I laughed. "Yes, could be more sometimes, no, and no."

When he didn't ask anything else I glanced over at him. He was looking around some more tables, but I could detect a small smile on his face. God he was gorgeous.

Before he caught me staring I moved over to another cabinet. The room was silent save for the music that I realized had been playing the entire time. I didn't recognize the singer, but as I listened to the song I found I liked it.

Just as went to turn to ask who it was a whispered breath blew across the side of my face, "Found it."

I jumped and turned too quickly, catching my foot on a table leg. My body started to fall over, but his arms wrapped around me, drawing me close and keeping me from hitting the floor a second time.

"Sorry," He said in my ear. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay, pay back for earlier." My voice was quiet as I looked up at him.

He was still pressed against me and I could smell the paint and thinner he'd been using. It smelled amazing. I subtly breathed it in before taking a step back. If I continued to be that close I would, without a doubt, jump him.

His arms fell away from me and I had to stop myself from whimpering. He then held up Angela's phone. "I found it over by the sinks."

"Oh thanks," I said taking it and slipping it into my front pocket. I stood there a few minutes, knowing I had no excuse to stay any longer, but not really wanting to go. I'd enjoyed the little bit of talking we'd done and I wanted to continue to get to know him.

Finally I resigned myself to just go. "Well thanks for helping."

"No problem."

"I guess I'll go so you can finish what you were doing."

"Oh okay." I hoped I was hearing the reluctance I thought I was and he didn't want me to go either, but he didn't say anything else and I chalked it up to wishful thinking.

"Well, it was nice meeting you."

"You too Bella."

I bit my lip and then said, "Bye."

I started to walk around him when he said it back, but then a hand on my arm stopped me.

"Do you want to see?" At my look of confusion he clarified. "What I was working on?"

"Sure, if you don't mind." I said trying to not sound to eager.

"I don't mind at all." He said giving me a smile.

He led me over to a canvas at the front of the room and I couldn't help but stare at it. Thanks to Angela I could see it from a different perspective than if I'd just seen it somewhere else.

It was the shape of a woman, her hair flowing in the wind behind her. She was sitting in the middle of a field with flowers and trees surrounding her. Nothing was too detailed except the colors though. It was kind of like looking through an unfocused camera, all the lines blurred together, but making up a thing of beauty.

"Wow," was all I could get out as I drank it all in. "It's beautiful."

"Thank you."

"I wish I could do this." I said as I continued to let my eyes sweep over it.

"You can."

"Hardly."

"Let me show you. You may not ever make it to this, but you can do something.

"I don't think so." I said.

"Trust me. The best thing about art is that no matter what a painting is of, someone will find it beautiful."

I nodded still in complete disbelief, but he just smiled and moved his painting over to the wall. He grabbed a clean canvas and set it up on the easel before moving around, picking up different color paints. Red, yellow, green, blue, purple, and orange found their way to the stand before Garrett unscrewed the tops and motioned for me to come over.

I stepped forward and he positioned me in front of him. His chest pressed against my back as he reached an arm around each side of me.

"This okay?" He asked quietly and sending my brain into overdrive with his closeness.

I swallowed thickly and nodded my head.

His hands came up to rest on my shoulders before the right one slid down and took mine, lacing our fingers so his was resting on the top.

"Which color first?" Again his voice was soft, but had a husky tinge to it this time and I had to bite my lip to keep from groaning at the sound.

After a few seconds I gained control of myself and answered, "Red."

I wondered about paintbrushes until I felt the cool glob as he stuck my fingers into the jar and I didn't care anymore.

I let him lead as his arm came up, lifting my own, touching our fingers to the canvas, and smearing a thick line of red across the expanse of it, curving it slightly inward and then outward.

"See..." He whispered into my ear. "Just that little bit is beautiful. To some it would be just a curved line, but to me it's the perfect shape of a woman's body."

He punctuated those words with moving his hand so it could slide down my side and come to rest on my hip.

"Is this okay too?"

"Mmhmm." I muttered as he made another curved line below the first and I felt him smile against my ear.

"What color next?"

"Um...green."

He moved our hands around his back and wiped them off on his t-shirt, but there was still a little red left over. He didn't seem to mind as he dipped our fingers into the green and brought it up to the canvas, smearing it all over underneath the other lines.

His thumb started drawing small circles on the skin below my shirt and I bit back another moan.

When he wiped our fingers off that time I didn't wait for him to ask and said, "Blue."

He smiled again and dipped our fingers.

From the blue we went to yellow, making a large area on top of the blue and then orange went on top of it.

As we were making what I guess was flowers with the purple he moved his hand off the top of mine and slid it up my arm to my shoulder, leaving a trail of purple lines behind.

"Keep going." He whispered when I stopped moving my fingers for a second.

I nodded and swallowed thickly wondering what he was going to do. I didn't have to wait long as he spoke again and his lips brushed against my ear.

"I want to kiss you." It wasn't a question, but a statement of fact and I couldn't stop the shiver that ran down my spine.

I turned my head slightly and caught his eyes, seeing the promise of more than just a kiss in them if that is what I wanted. I'd never had a one-night stand before and only two sexual experiences at that, but in that moment I wanted nothing more than to have him anyway possible.

Taking a deep breath I said, "I want you to kiss me."

His lips were on mine as soon as I finished the sentence, pressing hard. I turned my body and wrapped my arms around his neck to pull him closer as he dragged his tongue across my bottom lip.

I opened for him and met his tongue with mine as it plunged into my mouth. As we kissed his hands moved down to my ass and squeezed once before he lifted me up, my legs locking around his waist.

We broke apart long enough for him to find a table, but as soon as I was sitting on the edge his mouth was back on mine.

I groaned as his hands slid up under my shirt and cupped my breast in his hands. His lips moved down to my neck and then around to the other side.

My hands splayed out across his back for a moment before I moved them down to gather the hem of his shirt, tugging on it slightly. I wanted the thing off and he obliged by removing his hands from me and letting me lift it over his head.

I sucked in a ragged breath as he upper body came into view. He was all defined muscles, smooth skin, and he was absolutely beautiful.

As soon as I dropped his shirt I pulled him back to me and attached my lips to his chest, kissing anywhere I could reach. He let me for a few minutes before he lifted my shirt and I had to sit back so he could pull it off; my bra following right after.

It was his mouth that attached itself this time and my head fell back on my shoulders as he sucked a nipple into his mouth. A deep moan left my throat as he switched sides and kneaded the other in his hand.

His other hand slid down and cupped my jean covered sex. I rolled my hips into him, but I couldn't get close enough.

He seemed to think the same thing since he tore his mouth from me and pressed on my shoulder to get me to lie back.

The coldness of the table against my bare skin caused my back to arch, but I could give a shit at that point in time since he was unbuttoning and lowering the zipper of my jeans. I kicked my shoes off and lifted my hips as he hooked his fingers into my pants and panties, pulling them from my body. My socks quickly landed on top of them and I was completely bare for him.

He just stared but before I could grow self conscious he whispered, "Beautiful."

I pushed myself up and latched onto his mouth with mine as my hands went to work on his button and zipper, getting them undone quickly. I could feel him shifting as he removed his shoes and when he kicked them away I started to push on his jeans and boxers.

He stopped me long enough to get a condom from his wallet and then let them both fall to the floor, kicking them over to the side also.

I propped on my elbows and watched in silent fascination as he rolled the condom on. When he was done he leaned over me, capturing my lips with his. One hand held me up from the table as he lined himself up, with my entrance, with the other.

He pulled back and locked his eyes on mine, asking a silent question of permission. Like I was going to say no. I nodded and his mouth melded to mine again as he pushed forward until his hips were flush against me. He caught my whimper, at being completely filled, and I caught his hiss.

"God you feel good," He whispered as he pulled out and pushed back in.

"You too," I said rolling my hips into him as he thrust forward again.

His hands kept my back off the table as he picked up his speed and his mouth found purchase on my neck, licking and nipping at my skin.

I kept a hold of his upper arms and reveled in the feel of his muscles moving every time he thrust into me.

After a while I needed more and said, "Faster Garrett...harder. Please."

He sped up even more and lowered me to rest against the table as his hands moved to my hips, using them to help keep me from sliding back as he pounded into my body.

I gripped the edge of the table tightly with one hand as the pleasure grew, coiling low in my stomach. I was so close to diving off the top of the cliff.

"Fuck Bella," He groaned slamming into me over and over again. "I'm close baby."

"Me too Garrett," I whimpered. "Please?"

I don't even know what I was saying please to, but it didn't matter because at that moment one hand left my hip and slid in between us. His thumb brushed against my clit once as he pressed back in and caused the coil to snap. My eyes snapped closed and I cried out as my orgasm ripped through me, sending wave after wave of pleasure to all my nerve endings.

I was still shaking and breathing heavy from my release when Garrett pulled me up flush against him and plunged his tongue back into my mouth. After only a moment his body went rigid and he growled out his own release.

His breathing was just as labored as mine had been and he buried his head into my neck until it returned to normal.

When it had he raised his head and looked at me, giving me a small smile. I returned it and received one, two, and three pecks on the mouth before he stepped back, slipping out of me. I immediately felt the loss of him, but then he was there hugging me to his chest.

I don't know how long we were in that position before he sighed and said, "I guess we should get dressed."

I nodded and he helped me off the table.

Now that we'd done what we'd done I started wondering what happened now. Was it a one time thing or if there going to be a next time? I knew what I wanted which was to see him again, but he wasn't saying anything and I just couldn't make myself ask.

I found myself biting my lip as the silence seemed to close in around me. Once I was dressed I shifted from foot to foot and kept my eyes on the floor waiting on him to finish tying up his shoes.

I didn't even realize he'd finished until a finger lifted my chin up and he tugged my lip from my teeth with his thumb.

"What's going through that beautiful head?" He asked as his eyes swept my face.

I shrugged my shoulders not really wanting to voice what I was thinking, but he didn't let me off that easy.

"Do you regret what happened?"

"No," I said emphasizing it with a shake of my head. "I just...I haven't..." I huffed out a breath and then continued. "I hadn't done that before with someone I just met and I don't know what happens now."

"Well, I haven't done that before either, but I'd like to see you again."

_Oh thank the lord, _I thought, but I said, "I'd like that too."

The smile that grew on his face was almost blinding and he pulled me in for another deep kiss.

When we needed air he stepped back and said, "I probably should get things cleaned up. Will you wait for me to finish?"

I nodded and propped against the table as he moved around the room, straightening up. Once he was done he came back over and took my hand, leading me out of the room and locking the door behind us.

We walked out to the parking lot and over to my car. I leaned back on my door as he cupped my neck in his hand and ran his thumb along my jaw.

"Can I see you tomorrow? He asked. "We could get dinner and go to a movie or something."

"Yeah," I said smiling.

"Good. Can I see your phone?"

I handed it over and watched as he put his number in. He then called his phone so he'd have mine.

"So I'll call you in the morning to get your address and then I'll pick you up at 6. If that's okay?"

"That's sounds good."

He smiled again before pressing his lips to mine. When he pulled back I unlocked my door and settled in my seat after he pulled it open for me.

I started my car and rolled the window down. He leaned through the opening for another kiss.

"I'll see you tomorrow night." He whispered against my lips.

"Okay." I said just as quietly back.

With one last peck he stood straight and took a couple steps back. I gave him a smile and put my car in reverse, backing out of the parking spot. He stood and watched me and with a wave from both of us I put my car in drive, pulling away. I glanced in my rearview as I made it to the entrance of the lot and saw him still standing there. I smiled and turned toward my apartment.

The drive home was spent with the smile still in place. Now that I knew he wanted to see me again the pleasure I'd experienced was a very nice memory. I couldn't wait to get to know him better and see where it would lead. And as far as I was concerned, the debt Angela had for me getting her phone was paid in full.

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Well? Press the little button and tell me what you think?

I also pictured Garrett as the pro surfer Kelly Slater. Go look him up. He's so hot.


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